Annual Clinical Vaccinology Update (CVU) - Friday 28th October 2022

Rachael McGuire
BNurs
Education Nurse Coordinator, MVEC

Rachael is an accredited Nurse Immuniser and experienced paediatric Registered Nurse. She has a strong interest in the immunisation of special risk groups, including those with immunosuppression, as well as vaccine safety. She is passionate about immunisation education and is currently working towards a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education.

Francesca Machingaifa
BNurs (Hons), PGDipN (Paediatrics), GradCertClinEd
Education Nurse Coordinator, MVEC

Francesca is an accredited Nurse Immuniser and experienced paediatric Registered Nurse. She has been working with SAEFVIC (MCRI) as a Research Nurse since 2018 and holds the position of a Nurse Immuniser with a local council. Francesca also works in a private paediatric travel clinic and is passionate about immunisation research, education and surveillance.

A/Prof Margie Danchin
Consultant Paediatrician, The Royal Children’s Hospital

A/Prof Margie Danchin is a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and leader of the Vaccine Uptake Group, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on vaccine confidence, risk communication and uptake, particularly amongst high-risk groups, in Australia and globally. In Australia, she is the recent chair of the Collaboration on Social Science in Immunisation (COSSI) Group, chair of the Social Science Advisory Board and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, NCIRS and is an expert advisor to ATAGI. She is Deputy Chair, Australian Regional Immunisation Alliance (ARIA) and works closely with DFAT to provide technical immunisation support for the region.

Ms Selba-Gondoza Luka
Founder and CEO, Afri-Aus Care Inc.

Selba-Gondoza Luka is a Malawian-born Mental Health Clinician and a Culturally Appropriate Counsellor who specialises in specific support that targets African and other Culturally and Linguistically Diverse groups. Inspired by her own experience of domestic abuse, homelessness, and fractured family relationships, Selba-Gondoza founded Afri-Aus Care Inc. In 2015 with a mission to empower those within the African community to overcome the difficulties they face, much like how she had overcome hers. Selba-Gondoza is a multiple award winner, a motivational speaker and has been a Panel Speaker at the National Level. In 2018 she was awarded Victoria’s Multicultural Awards for Excellence; in 2021 she was inducted into the Victorian Women Honour Role; Citizen of the Year 2021 awarded by the City of Greater Dandenong; in 2022 she was Honoured for the Significant Contributions to the Multicultural Communities by Africa Day Australia. More of Selba-Gondoza’s achievements can be found on Media platform Google.

Prof Julie Leask
Adjunct Professor, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health

Julie Leask is a social scientist specialising in immunisation and professor in the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She leads a small team of researchers who focus on what people think, feel and do about immunisation and risk communication. Julie is a member of the Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases and visiting professorial fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. She currently holds an NHMRC Investigator Leadership Fellowship. She was chair of the WHO Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination working group 2018-2022 and overall winner of the Australian Financial Review 100 Woman of Influence in 2019.

Dr Jessica Stokes-Parish
Intensive Care Nurse & Educator, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Bond University

Jessica is a practicing intensive care nurse and educator, who holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Newcastle. In addition to 13+ years of bedside nursing, her areas of work include health professions workforce development, including policy, education and science communication. She loves nursing and all that it has brought her, so she’ll talk about that any chance she can get!

A/Prof Joseph Doyle
NHMRC Career Development Fellow, Monash University and The Alfred; and Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute

A/Prof Doyle is a clinician-researcher and dual-trained infectious diseases and public health physician. He has a particular interest in the epidemiology, management and prevention of blood borne viruses (HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B) and public health implementation research. He is currently NHMRC Career Development Fellow and a Associate Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at The Alfred and Monash University. He is clinical lead for Alfred Health Population Health Partnership, and jointly appointed as Deputy Director of Disease Elimination Program at Burnet Institute. He is a board member of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases, and has been appointed by national and state governments to the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia, and Independent Pandemic Management Advisory Committee in Victoria.

A/Prof Janine Trevillyan
Head of Clinical Virology and HIV Services, Deputy Director, Department of Infectious Diseases, Austin Health

A/Prof Janine Trevillyan is the Head of Clinical Virology and HIV Services and Deputy Director, Department of Infectious Diseases at Austin Health, and holds an honorary appointment at the Doherty Institute in the Department of Infectious Diseases. Janine was the lead of the North-eastern COVID Vaccination Hub and is a clinical researcher whose work focuses on understanding and preventing HIV-associated comorbidities and vaccine efficacy and safety. She completed a PhD through Monash University and then went on to a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, Clinical AIDS Research and Education centre. She’s an active member of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and elected member of its inflammation transformative science group committee.

Ms Mel Addison
Immunisation Research Nurse, SAEFVIC, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute 

Mel is an accredited Nurse Immuniser and experienced paediatric Dermatology Nurse Consultant.  She has a Graduate Diploma in Public Health. Her current position as a Research Nurse with SAEFVIC (MCRI) incorporates her strong interest in paediatrics and vaccine safety. She is also passionate about immunisation education. She has also worked as a nurse immuniser with a local council for 10 years.

Ms Laura Voss
Immunisation Research Nurse, SAEFVIC, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute 

Laura is an accredited nurse immuniser with experience in emergency/critical care nursing. She has been working as a nurse immuniser with adults, children and families in community general practice for the past six years and has a specific interest in vaccine preventable illness and vaccine confidence. She has been involved in many quality improvement projects to improve vaccine uptake. Her current position as a research nurse with SAEFVIC (MCRI) incorporates her interests in vaccine confidence and safety.

A/Prof Nigel Crawford
Director, SAEFVIC/ MVEC, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute 

Nigel is a consultant general paediatrician and Head of the Immunisation service at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He completed a Masters of Public Health at Cardiff University (2006) and vaccinology PhD at the University of Melbourne (2011). He is also Director of SAEFVIC, the Victorian vaccine safety service, based at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and helped establish the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre (MVEC). Nigel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne and his research interests include vaccine safety, immunisation of special risk groups and emerging infections, particularly those that may soon be vaccine preventable. He has been a member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) since 2014; became Chair in 2021.

Ms Philippa Holland
Immunisation Coordinator, City of Melbourne

Ms Philippa Holland is the Immunisation Coordinator for the City of Melbourne Council. Philippa has a keen interest in catch-up immunisation’s for migrant children and exploring the barriers of the current system. Through partnership with the MCRI we were awarded a grant from the GSK Immunisation Award’s 2020: to co-design the “Migration Immunisation Access (MIA) Project: determining the extent and impact of migrant children’s vaccination ‘catch-up’ schedules”.  Part findings of this project have been successfully published. She is also a tutor at the Australian College of Nursing where she helps mentor nurses and pharmacists to become authorised nurse immunisers across all states across Australia.

Ms Loretta Mithen
VicSIS Nurse Lead, Barwon Health PHU

Ms Loretta Mithen is a Nurse Immuniser with an extensive critical care background. Loretta is the Nurse Lead for the Victorian Specialist Immunisation Support (VicSIS) team at Barwon Health, PHU. Loretta joined VicSIS at its inception. A unique opportunity was presented within the role to collaborate with the Anaesthetic team to successfully address concerns for clients with needle phobias and those with intellectual disabilities. A multileveled approach, underpinned by respect and commitment, has created a successful vaccination process for this often marginalised cohort.

A/Prof Benjamin Teh
Infectious Diseases Physician, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre 

A/Prof Benjamin Teh is an infectious diseases physician and clinical researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the National Centre for Infections in Cancer. His research interests encompass translational immune profiling, clinical studies of infection risks with new cancer therapies and vaccination in cancer patients.

Dr Andrew Mahony
Infectious Diseases Physician, Bendigo Health, Echuca Regional Health, Swan Hill District Health, Austin Health

Dr Andrew Mahony is Infectious Diseases Physician at Bendigo Health, Echuca Regional Health, Swan Hill District Health and (when time permits) Austin Health. He is also the medical lead for the Loddon-Mallee Public Health Unit. Andrew has specific interests in HIV medicine, viral hepatitis, vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, and antimicrobial stewardship. His main new interest is his black German Shepherd 18-month-old puppy Ollie, whose immunisations are very much up to date.

Dr Naomi Brockenshire
Lecturer in Nursing, University of Melbourne

Dr Naomi Brockenshire is a Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Melbourne teaching in the Master of Advanced Nursing Practice, Master of Nursing Science, and Specialist Mental Health Nursing programs. Naomi also holds an Honorary appointment with the Nursing Research Department at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. Naomi completed her PhD in 2019, an ethnographic exploration of the Clown Doctors at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne. She is currently working on several research projects including graduate and nurse wellbeing; a service evaluation of the Nursing and Midwifery Health Program; the benefits and burdens of clinical placement for nursing students; and the work of clown doctors within a tertiary paediatric hospital.

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